Ignorance of the situation of Jafar Ebrahimi, a teacher imprisoned in Iran
Jafar Ebrahimi, a teacher's union activist and member of the Tehran Teachers' Union, remains in detention nearly a month after his arrest during a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of the November protests in Behesht Sakineh, Karaj.
According to news published on social media, there is no exact information available about the case of this teachers' union activist, who was arrested on Thursday, January 25, following the raid by security officers on the 40th anniversary of the death of Pouya Bakhtiari, one of those killed in the November protests, in Behesht Sakineh, Karaj.
The Telegram channel of Teachers for Justice also announced on Tuesday, November 2, in a post that security forces had once again raided the home of this imprisoned teacher and, after searching his home, confiscated and took away the mobile phone of Mr. Ebrahimi's wife.
Previously, Hossein Taj, Jafar Ebrahimi's defense lawyer, referring to the imprisoned teacher's acute gastrointestinal illness, told ILNA that his detention order had been extended once, and this despite the fact that the lawyer, despite referring to Branch 26 of the Karaj Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office and declaring his representation of the case, was not allowed access to the case based on the note to Article 48 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Last year, the Islamic Consultative Assembly approved a note to Article 48 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which states that only lawyers approved by the judiciary can represent either party in security crimes, which was met with strong criticism from lawyers and legal scholars.
This is not the first time that a teacher union activist has been arrested or sentenced to long sentences in Iran; Mohammad Habibi, Mahmoud Beheshti Langroodi, Hojjat Emami, and Esmail Abdi are among the teachers union activists whose status has previously been covered by Voice of America in its reports.
Mohammad Habibi was arrested along with 14 other participants in a rally held in front of the Planning and Budget Organization on May 10, 2018, to mark Teacher's Week. Last year, the appeals court upheld the sentence of 10 years and six months in prison and flogging for this educators' union activist and member of the board of directors of the Tehran Province Teachers' Association.
Hojjat Emami, a teacher union activist living in Shahindej, was also arrested on Tuesday, January 7, when security forces went to the private home of this Azerbaijani (Turkish) activist.
On the other hand, according to news published on social media, Mahmoud Beheshti Langroodi, a teacher and spokesman for the Tehran Teachers' Union, who was serving his five-year sentence in Evin Prison, was sent on leave on Tuesday, November 2, after four years.
This imprisoned teacher was first arrested in 2004 as the teachers' movement spread. He was arrested again on March 13, 2006 during a teachers' rally in front of the parliament and sentenced to 4 years in prison by a court ruled by Judge Salavati. This teachers' union activist was arrested for the third time in the spring of 2010 following a hunger strike in protest of the treatment of imprisoned union activists by security agencies and sentenced to 5 years in prison. In the summer of 2015, he was arrested again after a widespread teachers' protest and sentenced to 5 years in prison by a court ruled by Judge Moghiseh.
The handling of protesting teachers and their arrests by security forces have repeatedly been met with protests from human rights and trade union organizations.
The US State Department has repeatedly and on various occasions condemned the violent confrontations and widespread repression of protesters, as well as the repeated and persistent violations of the rights of Iranian citizens, including labor and trade union activists, by the ruling regime in that country.
Source: Voice of America
